After surviving through the 2011 Snopocalypse in Oklahoma we ended up with roofing screws in the rear tires of a 4x4 SUV. Bracing for the thought that we would have to get 2 new tires we set off to see how bad the damages were on the tires for the SUV. The first place that we went to was DISCOUNT TIRES in Northern OKC... One tire was a previous screw, the other was during the storm.
The wait time was over 75 minutes for our service, and at least 45 minutes before my car was pulled into a bay which had been open for at least 15 minutes before they pulled it in, and there was only 2-3 customers in front of us with 3 bays. Since our walk-in we had an additional 4 customers walk in. The service agent that we dealt with us said that they would look and inspect the tire and let us know what they can do about it. They ended up only checking that, and informed us that where the screw was located was through another patch that had already been done in the tire, they said that they could not repair it, and with the state of my tires' treads, that they recommend a new tire was bought, then proceeded to price me 3 of their 'best sellers', the lowest was over 100.00 with mounting & balancing of the tire. They really didn't offer more options other than the new tire, but also said that since the SUV was 4x4 that I should buy a whole new set since the treads were 'under optimum performance' -- The leak was VERY slow so I left unhappy with the experience.
I decided to wait and keep an eye on the screw since it was not 'severe' and find a time to check out Hibdon Tires across the street before deciding on dealing with getting new tires or seeing how bad the other was since they ended up only checking one tire. Later found that the paperwork said to only check one tire, when I clearly said both back tires. The associate that I dealt with was less than desirable in attitude.
What turned out to be a bit more than a month later due to my schedule availability before I could get a time to go to Hibdon Tires and get both the old tire & new tire checked out. In that time, I didn't have any issues with the first tire and they maintained appropriate levels with the air pressure. I went into Hibdon today and explained what was going on with the tires. The gentleman that I spoke to was Jeff, and without mentioning my experience at Discount Tires I explained that I had a leaky tire in my rear passanger that would not go over 25 PSI (tire is to be at 30PSI) and that I had my other rear tire with a *possible* screw in the tire as well. He took down my information and pulled up my information in the computer, entered in my car information, printed out the paperwork and said they would check the two rear tires AND the front ones to cover all bases. From there they would let me know what was going on, and if anything other than a road hazard fix was needed and which tires. I went in with an available time frame of just around an hour. Within 5 minutes from walking in, they had the car in the bay & up off the ground floor. About 40 minutes later, they pulled the car out of the bay without saying anything additional to me, and then parked it. When they came in and called my name, they let me know that I had 1 screw in each of the back tires that they were able to fix without replacing, and the front tires were in good shape, scored my tread of my tires a 5/6 of 9 & when I asked them how much longer I would probably get out of them, they said I was at 30,000 miles so as long as those were factory (which they were) that I would have about another 10-12k on them before I would need to start looking for new tires. They asked what kind of tread I was looking at for the SUV since I had avid tourings on my former car on file and reccomended me a few tire brands that would be simular to those since I had the same driving conditions. They said that if I had any issues with the fixes to come back and they would re-check at no charge.
At this time, I explained that I had been to DISCOUNT TIRE more than a month before & what they said to me, including about one screw being through another patch that was in the tire and their 'recommendation'. The tech checking me out said that my tire treads were more than satisfactory for how many miles that I had on the SUV and that they saw no evidence of any other patches on the tires. So, I thanked them for the information & left, this entire visit took me about 55 minutes & I made it to my next place a few minutes ahead of schedule.
So it goes without saying I am reviewing HIBDON as a POSITIVE EXPERIENCE, there are several locations in the Northern Part of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and have had positive experiences before. I am STRONGLY DISCOURAGING anyone to go to DISCOUNT TIRES because of the quality of service that I had with them, and the misinformation on the condition of my tires to make a sale that wasn't needed.
**The level of familiarity with the care of 4x4 SUVs is average and do know about the means and conditions of the tires and how they differenciate when you have 4x4**
THUMBS UP: HIBDON TIRES Rating: 5/5
THUMBS DOWN: Discount Tire Rating: 1/5
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